


Imitation

by padfootfreak14



Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23684788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootfreak14/pseuds/padfootfreak14
Summary: Can you do an a story where Owen x Reader have a toddler. And while at work Owen and reader get into a fight about how Owen spends more time with the girls then with his own flesh and blood. While they are arguing the toddler slips into the enclosure and with that Owen realizes that he does spend more time since the child is trying to act like the raptors, who find the tiny human alpha adorable
Relationships: Owen Grady/Reader
Kudos: 21





	Imitation

By and large, things were good and they had been for quite a while. It was almost easy to forget how long you’d been with Owen, even before you’d gotten together romantically you were always together. Your entire relationship had been a gradual progression of one thing after the next. Neither of you had necessarily asked the other out either. One night you’d been hanging out like you often did and a kiss goodnight just decided it for you. Owen didn’t make a production of it and neither did you, nights out just slowly morphed in to romantic ventures and more time spent spending the night at his place or yours.

You loved that about being with Owen, not needing to try and find the least awkward way to ask the other out or needing to ask where you stood. When you started spending more time together than by yourselves at home you simply moved in together in the bigger place of the two and that was all there needed to be. I love you was said plenty, sometimes just as a reminder sometimes just because one of you felt like saying it. Neither of you were sure why it worked so well, just that it did and you were both happy. It seemed like a short lived period of peace and quiet, as if you’d only just settled in to life together when it was all shaken up and had yet to settle back down.

Everything else that had gone on aside, the biggest change had been the surprise of finding out you were pregnant. Neither of you were opposed to starting a family but you hadn’t exactly been planning on doing it just then. Regardless, your family was all set to expand whether you and Owen had been planning it or not. Months later you were graced by the presence of your new baby girl and things were naturally far more hectic than they had been. 

Given that Owen was far more valuable around the enclosure than you were, you went on temporary leave to be able to take care of your daughter without adding in the stress of balancing work as well. After a while it had started to make you stir crazy, sitting at home all day with the baby, you wanted to be doing something. Eventually you resorted to being one of those mothers toting their baby around in a sling. You toted everything you’d need for her for the day in what more closely resembled a backpack than a diaper bag and went back to work in at least some capacity.

You and Owen were both thoroughly amused at the girls’ reaction to you returning with the infant, but she was kept quite a ways away from the girls even when they were in the head harness. You weren’t taking any risks, you’d seen frequently enough the difference caution could make. Thankfully no one minded the presence of the newborn and she became quite the fixture there as she grew. As she grew though it became a bit more effort to try and help her learn and be at the enclosure as often as you had been. Cutting back more time wasn’t something you were excited about but you wanted to do your very best for your daughter so you did it anyway and took more time to spend with her because she needed someone to be there and help her learn everything she needed to be learning and not two parents who spent all their time working.

That was the one thing that wasn’t as good, the thing that kept everything else from being great. As excited as Owen had been for you to make him a father you wouldn’t know it by looking at how often he was actually home. You got it, he loved the girls and the paddock and all of that. You loved it too but you had a responsibility to be there for your daughter so you cut back. Owen made no such concessions and had spent just as much time at the paddock as he always had, if not more at some points. It never failed to set you off but for D/N’s sake you tried to avoid fighting with Owen about it. You’d been there yourself for a decent period of your life and you didn’t want her to grow up hearing mom and dad fighting with each other. Even when you took her with you, which was every time you went since you didn’t exactly have a babysitter handy, Owen always paid more attention to the girls than his daughter.

It wasn't an easy feat, letting years pass without going off on Owen for not being there as often as he should. Too many nights you went to bed with a twisting bitter feeling in your chest because Owen had missed something else. Owen missing her first words because he was distracted by the girls. Owen missing her first steps because he stayed late. When he was home it was like he didn’t even realize how much of his daughter growing up he’d missed. What was even the point of having a child if you were never there? If you were more excited because a raptor turned when you called its name than you were when your own child toddled over to you and called you daddy?

By the time she was coming up on three you’d had enough. For all intents and purposes you were raising your daughter by yourself. Owen was never there to help you teach her to speak or how to walk. When she was barely a year old and started imitating the noises that the girls made, Owen only barely noticed, he’d looked confused and then went back to whatever he’d been doing. D/N clung to Owen whenever he was home but it didn’t even dawn on him that it was because he was never there and his daughter wanted him to be. It broke your heart that she tried so hard to make her father notice her like he noticed his raptors and he didn’t even seem to notice. Thankfully she was good about listening when you asked her to stay somewhere while you were at work, usually just staying in the tent or the office.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about Owen! I’m trying to get you to pay any attention to your family even to talk about it and you’re more concerned with the damn raptors than anything else!”

“We’re at work! This can’t wait until we’re home?” Who the hell was he to get irritated at you right now?

“So you can say that you’re tired or that you’ve got too much other work to do? You act like this is the first time I’ve tried to bring this up Owen!”

"It isn't the time!”

“Make it the time Owen! I’m not going to spend the rest of my life raising my daughter with a father that can’t ever make time for her! Why did you even want a child if you don’t want anything to do with her?! I’m the one that’s always there for her, I’m the one that that was there for her first words and her first steps and for everything else while you were too busy with your fucking raptors! When you’re even home she begs for your attention but you can’t even make time for her then, all your time is spent on the girls and it’s like you don’t even care!”

"I wasn't the only one that wanted a kid! You’ve always known that if we had kids I couldn’t just drop everything and be around all day. I’m sorry that I can’t be there for every single thing you want me to be but that doesn’t mean I don’t care! Don’t stand here and try to tell me I don’t make my own daughter a priority.”

“You don’t! There’s a difference between not being able to be there and just not being there. You didn’t miss her first words because you weren’t there, you missed them because even though I kept telling you I thought she was about to try to speak you were too busy giving all your attention to the girls. Her first steps you missed because you decided to work late with the girls. The first time she called you daddy? You were too busy watching the girls to even care. So don’t you stand here and try to tell me that you missed all of that because you had to. You did that by choice.”

Owen was having a hard time seeing where this was coming from. He always made sure he was home at night and yeah he'd probably missed some stuff but that happened with a lot of people. Both of you couldn’t be home at all times, of the two of you he was the one most needed at the paddock. Of course it was logical for you to be home most often when you weren’t as necessary at the paddock as he was. But he definitely didn’t prioritize the girls over his daughter, he was home just as much as he was at work…wasn’t he?

"Look, you say here and do whatever the hell you think you need to do, D/N and I are going home. She doesn’t need to stay here any longer and see what’s really important to you.” You were done trying to make Owen realize what impact he was having on his daughter. He clearly wasn’t getting what you were saying. Before he tried to argue more that he wasn’t doing anything wrong, you turned to go back to the tent only to find that your daughter wasn’t there anymore. “D/N?” You weren’t sure where she could’ve gone, she was always great about staying where you asked her to, if she needed to use the bathroom she told you, she didn’t just wander off. “D/N!” While your shouting didn’t get an answer from her, it drew Owen right to you.

“Where’s D/N?”

“If I knew that I wouldn’t be calling for her now would I?!” You snapped, having started panicking before Owen ever reached you. Owen wasn’t quite so quick to panic, taking your face in his hands.

“You need to take a deep breath and calm down, she couldn’t have gotten far you weren’t even away from her very long. Okay? We’ll check right around here and if the two of us can’t track her down I’ll get the guys to…what the hell?” He started, pausing when he heard the girls vocalizing suddenly. You were full prepare to start screaming at him for getting distracted by the raptors when your daughter was presumably missing until you heard another noise accompanying the girls. Owen recognized it first, remembering the first time D/N had wandered up to him and tried to mimic the girls. It had you both skidding through the gravel as you ran for the cage.

The entire short run you’d been hoping and praying your daughter had just wandered off to the cage and was standing there trying to talk to her daddy’s raptors. The reality made you violently ill and had you grasping on to the bars to keep you upright. Just past the other side of the gate stood your three year old, growling at the raptors and making clawing motions at them with her hands. Any moment you were going to watch them tear your baby apart like she was nothing at all to them.

Owen’s heart sank the minute he caught sight of his daughter, the guilty feeling forcing its way in with the fear that was gripping his chest to see his daughter inside the raptor enclosure. It wasn’t just that she was inside the enclosure, standing in front of the dangerously armed raptors that Owen could only be amazed hadn’t killed the toddler for a snack. It was seeing her standing there imitating the girls, not just the noises he’d periodically heard her make, but full on trying to imitated them down to how they moved. His small human child in there trying to act like she was a raptor.

Everything you’d been yelling at him about hit him all at once. She begs for your attention. Here she was begging so badly for his attention that she was trying to be just like what he did give his attention to. Owen didn’t imagine this was the sort of wakeup call most parents got if they weren’t present enough in their child’s life but for him it was a brutal reality check that snapped him enough out of his shock that he could rush to the gate controls.

While their alpha and his mate were panicking, the pack was having no such problems. They had found it peculiar to see the little alpha in the cage without its parents, and even tried to call for Owen but he didn’t arrive with you until after the little alpha had come inside the enclosure with them. It was a strange little flesh creature trying to move around like they did and making noises at them that they thought were also meant to mimic. They didn’t plan on hurting their baby alpha, their alpha had an adorable little hatchling. Blue would watch over the child, make sure her sister’s didn’t accidentally hurt it until Owen came to retrieve her. The little girl was always around, perhaps their alpha just needed them to keep an eye on her for a little while. They’d heard the two of you yelling, perhaps that was why the little alpha child appeared by herself.

When Owen got the gate open he felt a flash of concern as he watched Blue duck her head down towards D/N. Instead of grabbing her like he’d expected, she used her head to push the toddler towards him. When D/N realized that Owen was there, she turned to him and jumped towards him like Blue would have, bending her fingers like claws and growling at him. Seeing that the girls made no attempt to cross the threshold of the gate, Owen pressed the button to close it again and swept his daughter in to his arms, checking her for any injury that she might’ve gotten. On his way out the cage door Owen paused to grab your arm and pull you up from where you’d sunk down, dragging you from the cage. He had to think you were still in shock from the way you remained silent the entire trek to the office.

"Put me down!" D/N whined as she was carried off to the office. That was enough to snap both of you out the silent shock you’d been in. You were half tempted to bend her over your knee but you knew better, she was still far too young to understand what was wrong with what she’d done. You’d be surprised if she even understood how badly she’d scared you.

“Why would you do something like that?! Do you have any idea how scared you made us?!” You regretted the question the minute it came out of your mouth. You had a pretty good guess why and in front of Owen wasn’t exactly where you wanted her to answer it.

“Daddy always notices them so if I was like them he’d notice me too!” You didn’t even need to look to notice the way Owen’s face fell even further. Despite the argument you felt bad for him, it was one thing to have you yelling at him that he didn’t spend enough time with your daughter but it was quite a bit more brutal to hear it right from her mouth like that especially after she’d just needed to be pulled out of the enclosure she’d slipped in to get Owen’s attention.

“What did I say about using your words? You don’t do things like that, the girls could’ve hurt you. What do you do next time you want to show daddy your best raptor impression?”

“Show him at home?”

“That’s right, you show him where it’s safe. Now what do you say to him?”

“I’m sorry that I scared you and mommy.”

“And?”

“And I won’t do it again.” Owen was still silent, shaking slightly as he set her down and stepped outside the office.

“Owen!” You called, following after him and hoping that he wasn’t trying to go back to the paddock. He had stopped just outside the office, sitting on a crate outside with his face in his hands. You were hating this, all you wanted was for him to realize the issue and fix it. You didn’t want him to realize it quite like this. “You okay?” You asked softly, putting a hand on his back.

“Well I just found out my daughter thinks that I notice her so little that she needed to climb inside with raptors to get my attention and she wasn’t wrong. Obviously I’ve noticed so little that I didn’t even realize that I wasn’t paying enough attention to either of you. Instead, me not being around almost got our daughter eaten.”

“I don’t know about that, they didn’t seem like they wanted to eat her. They seemed a hell of a lot more amused than we were at least.” You tried, sitting on the edge of his leg. “But you realize now, you just need to fix it, it isn’t too late yet.”

"I don't even deserve another chance from either one of you.”

“You’re getting one anyway, don’t screw it up. I’m not giving you any more chances after this though. You said once that you wanted a few kids but if you don’t get your shit together and make the one you have now a priority you won’t get anymore and you’ll be lucky if I stick around at all. Am I clear?”

“Yeah,” Owen responded simply. Of course it was clear, the incident with the girls was a wakeup call but he knew you weren’t joking and that if he didn’t get his shit together you would absolutely leave him and take D/N with you. It shouldn’t even be an issue in the first place, being faced with losing his family because he hadn’t made then enough of a priority. It was shameful at best that he’d treated them like they were just always going to be there whenever he might have need of them. “I’ll do better, a lot better. Promise.”

“I trust you, but I’m not the one you’ve been hurting.” He had hurt you of course, but only because he’d been hurting your daughter. He’d still come to bed with you every night like nothing had changed, like during the day it didn’t feel like the two of you didn’t matter much to him at all. But she was the one he really needed to make this up to. But he was back on the right track, at least for the moment. You didn’t miss the look on his face when he turned his head to look back to the office and realized that D/N wasn’t in there.

“Where did she…”Owen started, being cut off by her imitation growl as she jumped on his back. “There’s my little raptor girl. What do you think mom, time to put her in the pen like the other girls?”

“I think we better, before she starts chewing the furniture. We’ve already gone through that with the other four.”

“No!” You daughter exclaimed, squealing as Owen stood up with her and slung her over his shoulder. “Daddy put me down!”

“Sorry Princess, you want to be a raptor and raptors have to stay in their pen. So I’m gonna leave you with the girls, take the week off and spend some time at home. I’ll see you when we come back though.” You opened your mouth to argue with Owen that he didn’t have to take the week off but he shot you a look that stopped you before you’d even uttered a word.

“Mommy don’t let him leave me in the cage! I want to stay home too!”

"Well you have to ask daddy then!” You responded to her, trying not to laugh.

“Daddy?” She asked, putting on her very best begging voice.

“Yes raptor girl?”

“Raptor Princess!” She corrected.

“I’m sorry, Raptor Princess.”

“It’s okay, you didn’t know. Can I pretty please stay home with you and mommy?”

“Do you promise that you’ll never go near the cage without me and you mom again? And that you’ll stop sneaking off?”

“I promise! I promise!”

“Then you can stay home with us too. But I’ve got to give you back to your mom for a bit okay?”

“But I wanna stay with you!” She whined as Owen passed her over to you.

“I’m sure you do baby, but I’ve got to go talk to your Uncle Barry for a minute, when I get back we’ll go home and I’ll make us all lunch.” Owen leaned in to give her a quick kiss on the forehead. “I won’t be gone long Princess, I promise.” Owen’s promise didn’t do much in terms of keeping her from getting upset. Before he was even out of sight she was in tears and squirming to get away from you.

“Sweetie stop it, he’ll be right back.”

“That’s what he always says!” She sobbed.

“If he isn’t right back I’ll lock him in his own raptor cage, but daddy has responsibilities and he can’t just leave without talking to someone.”

“Yes he can he’s the boss!”

“He can’t. He’s got his own boss and he has to make sure that Barry knows to take care of everything so that your daddy doesn’t get in trouble for not being here.” Not wanting her to start screaming and make a scene, you carried her off to wait in the vehicle. The second you’d put her inside she was scrambling to the front to look for Owen. “There, now you can just stay in here and we can wait for him to come back.”

“But I can’t see anything!”

“I don’t need you getting away from me and ending up hurt. I know it’s hard but you have to be patient.”

“But what if he doesn’t come back?”

“Then your father will have some serious issues to deal with.” Owen however had every intention of getting back to the two of you as soon as he possibly could. A week wasn’t going to make up for three years but he hoped it would be a good start. He wasn’t entirely comfortable leaving everything alone for very long but at the very least he knew that Barry would be able to handle things and know well enough to not call him unless it was an absolute emergency. That was what he needed right now, some uninterrupted time with his family.

“Barry!”

“What just happened down there?” Of course he had to have seen that.

“Long story, everything’s fine, she’s okay. Well everything isn’t really fine, but I need a favor. I have to take off for a bit, can you handle stuff here for a week or so?” Owen had to remind himself that it wasn’t the first time he’d been away from the paddock for a bit. He had taken nearly a full month off when it was close to time for D/N to be born, only stopping in occasionally to status.

“You take care of whatever you need to take care of, we’ll all still be here when you get back,” Barry had a good idea of why his friend suddenly needed to take some time off. You weren’t the only one that noticed that Owen had been less than attentive of his daughter. At the same time Barry wasn’t sure he wanted to know why the child had ended up in the raptor pen and thanked a higher power that nothing had happened to her. Either way they’d be okay without Owen for a little while so he could sort things out.

“I owe you one,” Owen promised, turning to go back to the office to grab the bag you’d brought along to keep D/N entertained.

“You should take her around the park, she’d getting old enough to enjoy it.” Barry called after him. Owen had already been considering that as at least one thing he could take D/N out to do, usually she’d be a bit too young for some of the things but considering she’d seen a few times when the girls ended up catching what they were just supposed to track Owen wasn’t exactly concerned about taking her to see the Rex or the Mosasaur. There was also the benefit of your and Owen’s ability to take her behind the scenes and let her see whatever she might want to.

Owen was quick to try and finish up with Barry and grab your things, which he’d been right to assume you hadn’t thought to grab. He had to check his watch when he got back to where he’d left the two of you and realized you were waiting in the vehicle. Owen inwardly cringed, he knew the only time you closed the two of you in the office or a vehicle was when she was starting to get upset, and Owen could guess what it was that was upsetting her now. He was quick to toss the bag in the back and join the two of you.

“See, really quick just like I said.”

“She’s decided that she’s not going to speak to either of us.” Just another one of the headaches of having a toddler, stubborn little things. “Since I made her come sit in the car and you left to go talk to Barry. Apparently someone is under the impression that her father runs everything and doesn’t have to answer to anyone, so he should’ve just left without a word.”

“That’s okay, I guess that means we don’t have to take her to the park tomorrow then. You can sleep in and I’ll make sure she gets all her work done.” Owen could see through the rear view mirror that she was struggling to keep up her silent treatment. Owen also knew that she’d begged you to take her to the park before and that you’d refused, wanting her first trip to the park to be a family event not just you showing her around.

Owen gave her credit, she ignored you both through being strapped in to her car seat, the drive home, all through lunch and pretended she didn’t even hear the story she was being read before her nap. Both of you knew she’d give up eventually, probably when she woke up and had forgotten all about Owen leaving her for a few minutes so he could spend the whole week with her.

“So how long are you home for?” Sure you were happy for him to take any time off at all but you weren’t sure if he was being serious about the week or not. You supposed that even just a day would make a difference as far as D/N was concerned but you hoped that Owen knew as well as you did that when he did go back she was probably going to throw a fit.

“Week, maybe more. I asked Barry if he could handle it for a week or so, he said to just do whatever I needed to and it’d be fine. I don’t know if longer is better, she’ll probably throw a fit either way when we have to go back.”

“She will, but it isn’t like she won’t be going with us.” And for you that would be the real test, Owen could take off an entire month to try and prove he’d do better but in the end it was going to be a matter of whether he took this whole thing to heart long term. If he took time off to spend with her but went right back to long hours afterwards it was all for nothing. You needed him to be consistent with this, not just try and take some time off here and there and think that it would be enough.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there, if she got that upset just from me going to talk to Barry she’s really not going to be happy that I can’t just take forever off. I don’t think she’ll care that she’s going back with us.”

“Probably not, but she’s also three years old and gets upset if I don’t give her the color cup she wants.”

“How the hell did we go from you being terrified about having a kid and me being the one all for it to this? To you being the one making her happy and me never realizing that she wanted me around more?”

“Things happen Owen, I was the one that could stay home with her and be away from the paddock all the time. You’re the trainer, you had to be there. The problem was just that you got so carried away always being there for the girls that you never realized how much time it was taking away from you being with us.”

“You shouldn’t have let it go so long,” Owen muttered. “Should’ve knocked some sense in to me a while ago.”

“I always thought it would turn in to a fight, I didn’t want her to have hear us yelling at each other like I did with my parents.”

“Baby if I’m doing something wrong, just tell me. We could’ve avoided a lot of this if we’d have talked about it sooner and that’s on both of us for not talking about stuff more. But if I’m doing something that’s upsetting you or upsetting her I need you to tell me about it before I waste years of our lives screwing everything up.” He remembered the deal the two of you had made when you found out you were pregnant, that you’d never let things be like it had been with your parents. That the two of you wouldn’t turn in to a couple that argued and screamed at each other in front of their kids. He’d seen this discomfort all over your face that afternoon, the guilt of feeling like you weren’t nearly far enough away from your daughter to be arguing like you were. “We are never going to be like your parents.”

“I keep trying to tell myself that but,”

“No buts. I don’t like fighting with you in the first place, I’m sure as hell not going to do it in front of our daughter. You have to understand though that I can’t fix something that I’m doing wrong if you don’t tell me. You’ve known me long enough to know that I don’t always realize things that I should. You should also know damn well that if it ever came down to me having to choose the two of you or the raptors I’d choose the two of you. I know how bad I messed up and I know sorry isn’t enough to make up for that but I never meant for it to seem like the pack meant more to me than D/N because they aren’t. If anything would’ve happened to her today…I don’t even know. I don’t even want to think about it.”

“So don’t. We’ll move on, you’ll do better, we’ll do better. I think we’re probably supposed to screw up a lot with the first kid, maybe not quite like we have but most people aren’t trying to raise their kid on an island with a dinosaur park on it. We’ll do better on the second one, hopefully.”

"Yeah, plenty of time to figure out how to not mess up anymore with this one."

“Depends on your idea of plenty of time, but I’m sure we’ve learned a lot from the first three years of mistakes.” Owen paused, staring at you as he tried to work out whether or not you were trying to imply something else.

“Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but I’m pretty sure you said a few hours go that if I didn’t get my shit together I wasn’t going to get any more kids.”

“I wasn’t really thinking clearly at that point, I was just trying to calm us both down. I mean if you want to be specific, I was being serious and if it came down to it and it was what was best I would leave.” It was almost comical to watch Owen’s realization.

“You’re pregnant?” It was like telling him about D/N all over again, a week he’d kept up with this you’re really pregnant? You aren’t just messing with me? Even when he’d gone with you and seen the ultrasound he had been in a state of disbelief. Then it had seemed unreal to you that he’d been so surprised that you were pregnant given that there was far from a shortage of events to contribute to it. Having a child hadn’t dampened either of your passions for each other, but it made making time for it a bit more of a task and with the issues you’d been having you’d been a bit surprised to find out you were pregnant yourself. But as they always say, it only takes one and it wasn’t like you’d cut him off. Upset with him or not you still had a hard time refusing Owen in one of the rare times that the mood was there and D/N wasn’t going to be a worry. Definitely didn’t want her walking in on that.

“Yeah, I was pretty surprised myself considering how rarely we even get the chance for alone time let alone sex. Which is now going to decrease even more, don’t think we really factored that in when we decided we’d like to have kids at some point.”

“I kind of figured that if we had kids we wouldn’t still be going at it all the time. Maybe not at little as we do but definitely that it wouldn’t be so often. Christ you girls are trying to give me heart failure today.”

“Well I wasn’t planning on her climbing in the damn enclosure, I was hoping we’d have a nice calm conversation and you’d realize that you didn’t spend enough time with us. Then I was going to say how fantastic it was that you realized the issue and tell you that I’m pregnant. None of that happened obviously. So I had to improvise a little.”

“Come over here,” He said, beckoning you to move over to him from the other side of the steps where you’d opted to sit. Once you were close enough is arm wrapped around you and pulled you against his side. You were both quiet for a time, contemplating what another baby was going to mean especially when there were some pretty significant issues that needed to be rectified. At least when you’d gotten pregnant with D/N things were all going well.

“Are we really up for another baby right now?” Not that it really mattered if you were or not but it made you feel a little better to voice the little concern in the back of your mind that this really wasn’t an ideal time.

“Like we just said, we’ve learned a lot since the first one. I’ll start having Barry take care of anything after hours and we’ll figure it out. We’re usually off on the weekend, I’ll figure out a day during the week to try and be home too, give you a break so you don’t have them both all week, alternate or something.” This was just another reason for Owen to put serious effort in to making it very clear what his priorities were and not screw up again. Hell, if he had to he’d keep the baby strapped to his body while he worked. “We’ve got this, more fun when it’s a surprise anyway. Better than having to keep trying to have kids. You’ve done amazing with D/N, I’m just gonna have to show you up with the second one.”

“Yeah, in your dreams,” You laughed, leaning against his shoulder. “So what’s the plan for the rest of the week?”

“Well you’re going to take it easy, thought we’d take D/N around the park and let her see anything. Maybe she’ll find something to like better than the girls. Other than that I don’t know, play it by ear or something. Either way I’ll still be home.”

“I wish she would find something better to like than the girls, something less likely to eat her if she gets too close.”

“I still can’t believe they didn’t try to. Shit, they still snap at me sometimes.”

“I’ve told you before those four are strange and unpredictable at best,” You returned, interrupted by the sound of the door and little feet shuffling towards the two of you.

“Well look who decided to join us!” Owen teased, smiling at the drowsy toddler still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She almost looked confused to see him sitting there with you, like she’d slept to long and he was home from work.

“Is it time for dinner?” She mumbled, looking around.

“No, you just had lunch right before your nap. Did you forget that I’m taking the week off?” She stared at Owen for a moment before nodding her head. She all too happily shuffled her way over to him and on to his lap when he waved her over. “Have a good nap?”

“Mmhmm. Can we still go to the park tomorrow?”

“That depends, can you be a good girl and listen to us and not run off? Because we can’t take you if you won’t stay with us the whole time, a lot of people come to the park and we don’t want you to get lost.”

“Will you carry me?”

“If you want me to carry you I can do that, get you up high so you can see everything better.”

“The whole time?”

“Unless we’re on a ride I’ll carry you the whole time.”

“I’ll be so good! Is mommy coming too?”

“Of course she’s coming!”

“And you want to know who else is coming?” You asked her, nodding at Owen

“Uncle Barry?”

“No not Uncle Barry, he’s got to watch over the girls so daddy can be home with us.”

“Who then?!”

“You can’t see them yet, but this later year you’re going to have a little brother or a little sister.”

“If I can’t see them how can they come with us?”

“Right now they’re in here growing,” Owen answered, moving his arm from around your shoulder to put a hand over what would eventually turn in to your bump. “Kind of like how the girls started out in an egg and they were incubated, your mom has a little baby in her that’ll grow. When it’s big enough it’ll come out and you’ll get to meet them.”

“Will it break out of her belly like an egg too?”

“People don’t work like that sweetie, when you’re a bit older we can explain it to you better.”

“But I’m gonna be a big sister?”

“Yeah, so you know how Blue looks after the other three? I’m going to need you to look after your mom and the baby like that for me.”

“And you’ll look after us like you look after them?”

“Just like that, because there are gonna be some days that I have to be at work so when I’m not here you’re in charge. And I told your mom that I’ll have a day during the week that I’m home all day.”

“Is mom going to work more if you work less?”

“Not a chance, your mom is going to take it easy because of the baby and when she has it and eventually comes back to work just like she did with you, it’ll be like it is now.”

“Except more dad.”

“Except a lot more dad”

“And we’re still going to the park?”

“We’re still going to the park,” Owen laughed.

“Well, I guess I’m okay with a new baby then. Can I have as many sisters as Blue?”

“I don’t know that your dad and I want quite that many sweetie.”

“Dad does not want four, dad definitely does not want four. Me, your mom, you and the baby will make four, that can be the pack.”

“Mom, dad is no fun.”

“Mom doesn’t want four babies either, so neither of us are any fun.”

"But why not!"

“Because your dad and I still have to work and it’s a lot for us to be able to keep you with us when we’re there, we can’t manage bringing four little kids with us to work every day. Besides, this house isn’t big enough for six people.”

“We can get a bigger house and I’ll take care of them like Blue!”

“This is not up for discussion right now, you’ll have to make due with one. It sounds good to you right now, but I don’t think you’ll feel that way when there’s a screaming baby, or when it grows up. You won’t think it’s so fun anymore.”

“So we’ll talk about it later like where your baby comes from?”

“Sure, we’ll talk about it later.” You had no intention at all of having a discussion with your daughter at any point about you having two more kids after the new baby, by the she’d have hopefully forgotten all about it. If she didn’t you’d have some other excuse ready but you were really not planning on four kids. You were also fairly sure that the only way you could manage four kids would be if you quit working altogether and you really wanted to avoid that.

“How about we plan what we’re going to do at the park tomorrow?” Owen asked her, saving you from any further ideas from your ever inquisitive child.

They had probably planned straight up until it was time for dinner, not that the visit to the park the next day followed any of those plans. It wasn’t quite as chaotic as you expected and you gave Owen credit for keeping D/N reigned in for the most part, but good lord you had never seen her so excited. Nothing managed to surpass the raptors in her eyes but she declared that the T-Rex was now her second favorite but she also really liked the mosasaur. God forbid the girl like some herbivores or something safe. You couldn’t help but smile when took her to pick out something from one of the souvenir shops and she returned with something that she’d picked out for the baby too.

Owen very thankfully held up his end of the bargain. He did wonderfully at cutting back time at the paddock in favor of his family which gave you a little more hope for how things would work with another addition. If Owen was concerned at all he certainly didn’t show it. You were just happy that everything was good again and that you wouldn’t need to worry about a repeat of how he was with D/N with the new baby. You were also secretly happy to find out that it was going to be a little boy. You and Owen both thought that two would be a good stopping point and you liked the idea of having one of each. D/N had been hoping for a sister, and of course had questioned why you and Owen couldn’t just make it a girl like they did with the dinosaurs. It was a growing list of things you’d have to explain to her when she was older and could actually understand them. Or you’d make Owen explain it, definitely make Owen explain it.


End file.
